


Love Magic

by PawPunk



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Angry crush, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anniversary, Awkward Flirting, Crash Landing, Dark Magic, Declarations Of Love, Healing, Inside jokes, Love Potion/Spell, Meet-Cute, Mild Blood, Multi, Oblivious Love Interest, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Shenanigans, Tenderness, minor violent threats, more to be added - Freeform, zedaph being wierd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PawPunk/pseuds/PawPunk
Summary: A fic to go along with some headcanons on my blog @hmshermitcraft
Relationships: Grumbo - Relationship, Rendoc, falsuma, jleo, poly ZIT, scardubs, stresskall - Relationship
Comments: 16
Kudos: 168





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings: none

Scar stood back to admire his handiwork. The new crystal in the center of the shopping district was, to steal another candidate’s favorite word, gorgeous. It was pink, made of his Gift Of Love crystals, and filled with sea lanterns to provide a source of light for when Bdubs and Wels weren’t online. Surely, people would HAVE to vote for him after seeing all the magic he could bring to the district!

“Hey Scar!” his campaign manager called, flying in beside him. Bdubs grinned at the new addition. “Does this serve any purpose?”

“Just decoration,” Scar said. “But aren’t we supposed to be prettifying the shopping district?”

“We sure are!” Bdubs said, and Scar couldn’t help but grin. Bdubs’ eyes looked so pretty when he was excited- they sparkled, as cheesy as that sounded. As the sun set, the air seemed to get warmer, not cooler, and red light filtered through the pink crystal and illuminated Bdub’s face.

“Oops, gotta schleep!” he said, placing his bed. Scar gave the crystal- and his partner- one last look before flying off to his own base. The thought never crossed his mind to break Bdubs’ bed.


	2. Rendoc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: none

Was it all in Doc’s head, or was Ren _really_ pretty today? No matter how hard he stared- and Doc was staring, to be honest- he couldn’t see anything different about the other man’s appearance. And yet…

“Hey, Doc! What’s up?” Ren called. He waved exuberantly, his blurring tail matching his arm.

“Oh, you know… gardening, and stuff.” Doc mentally cursed himself. That sounded so awkward! Normally, such a thing wouldn’t bother him, but when Ren was around, it did.

“That sounds so cool, dude!” Ren gushed. Doc felt a rare smile creeping of his face.

“I suppose,” he admitted. “It’s rather easy. I could show you, if you like.” SHIT! Why’d he say that? His heart fluttered so hard Doc though Ren must be able to hear it, but he just smiled.

“I’d love that!” Ren said. “I bet your tips could really help me grow trees!”

“I mostly work with small plants,” Doc said. “But I’d still like to help you.”

“Awesome! I’ll come over to your base tomorrow, I can’t wait to see all the plants you’ve been growing!”

Ren bounded away before Doc could process what he’d said. His stomach was fluttering. Was he sick? And did Ren just ask him out on a date? Doc would honestly have never considered it before today- he and Ren just weren’t made for each other. But now… he REALLY HOPED he wasn’t getting the wrong message.


	3. Poly ZIT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: very brief hurt feelings, but it gets resolved

Zedaph was just walking through the shopping district when he realized he hadn’t ever really done anything romantic for his boyfriends. Sure, they hung out a lot, and nobody ever doubted they loved each other, but they never did the “traditional” romantic things. No fancy dates, no flowers, not even anniversary celebrations.

It was kind of… sad, now that he thought about it. When even was their anniversary? Impulse, Tango, and himself all had different anniversaries depending on which two you looked at. They never had a single day to celebrate all together… until today!

Zedaph chuckled to himself. From this day forth, this date would be their anniversary, for all three of them! He needed- he needed to celebrate! He needed to make his boyfriends AWARE of this development! Forgetting the reason he’d come to the shopping district in the first place, Zedaph set out to prepare for the surprise date.

* * *

When Impulse came back to his base to find a suit laid out on his crafting bench, his first thought was _this is a trap_. He mined below and around it, but there was no redstone anywhere. Replacing the blocks, Impulse cautiously walked up to the suit and picked it up. A note fluttered out, and he grabbed it. It looked like Zedaph’s handwriting- oh, of course. Zedaph was the only person on the server that would pull this. Impulse read the note.

_Hello darling Impulse_ , it said, _Please wear this suit and come to Zedaph’s base at precisely 18:00. Nothing bad will happen, I promise. Lots of love, Zedaph._ And then there was a little drawing of a heart. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all, thought Impulse sarcastically. Still, he didn’t see exactly how this would harm him, and if anything it would be fun to find out. Looking at the clock, he saw that he had half an hour until the mystery event. Pulling on the suit, which fit him very well actually (best not to think about how or where Zedaph got his measurements), Impulse dashed out the door of his base and flew in Zedaph’s direction.

* * *

At his base, Tango had received a similar message. He waited next to his boyfriend on top of a patch of grass with a red X painted on it, outside Zedaph’s base.

“So, do you think he’s gonna drop a giant anvil on us or something?” Impulse asked.

“Nah, that’s something I’d do,” Tango said. “Besides, what would the suits have to do with that? I bet he’s gonna splatter us with paint or something.”

“I guess. It seems like a lot of work for just that, though.”

The sun dipped close enough to the horizon for the sky to start turning orange. The grass shifted under Impulse and Tango’s feet, and they plummeted a surprisingly short distance into a shallow pool of water.

“Hello!” Zedaph yelled exuberantly. He was wearing another suit, just like Impulse and Tango’s. “There are some magma blocks over there, they’ll dry you off in a snap! Just stand next to them!”

“What? Why?” Impulse said. He gingerly stood up, trotting over to the magma blocks Zedaph had mentioned. They were toasty, but did nothing to ease his confusion.

“It’s our anniversary! Surprise!” Zedaph cheered.

“Our- what?” Tango poured water out of his shoe. “Zedaph, we don’t have an anniversary. Not all three of us together.” He stood up too, standing with his back to the magma and crossing his arms.

“That’s why I made one today,” Zedaph said softly. “I mean, we don’t need one. If you don’t want. I just thought it could be cool. You know.” He shuffled backwards, ducking his head. Why had he thought this would be a good idea?

“No, it is a good idea,” Tango said. “I- just- why all the cryptic letters, and the falling in a pit?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Well, I’m certainly surprised!” Impulse said. “I bet this isn’t all you planned though, right?”

“Right,” Zedaph said, practically sighing with relief. “If you’ll step this way, I’ve arranged a romantic dinner for us.” He led the two of them to a polished table with a white tablecloth and a softly flickering candle. “If you’ll sit here, I’ll bring the first course to the table.”

“The first course?” Tango said, sitting down.

“Yup! I made four, this one is minestrone soup,” Zedaph said proudly. He set the dishes down on the table, and Impulse and Tango picked up their spoons.

“Dude, this is really good!” Impulse proclaimed with a full mouth.

“Its fantastic!” Tango one-upped. “Seriously, thank you for arranging all this. It was a great idea to have a day for all three of us.” Zedaph smiled warmly. Whatever had compelled him to do this, he was glad for it.


	4. Jleo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Cleo-typical swearing and threats of violence

Dammit, Joe had to go to the shopping district at the exact same moment as Cleo. The one person- the one person!- who didn’t have enough good sense to stay away from Cleo (who she might actually want to see) just HAD to be here. She changed direction, skirting around a large crystal Scar had installed to beautify the place. Hopefully it’s bulk would hide her from-

“Howdy, Cleo!” (Double damn.) Joe stepped around the crystal, waving jauntily. Cleo can’t help but smile, her stomach doing the familiar flips it always does when Joe turns up, his smile seeming to emit its own light. Oh well. If she’s going to be forced to talk to someone, Joe is definitely the best person.

“Hey Joe,” she responded. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty busy,” he admitted, “But such is the life of a dedicated civil servant.”

Cleo rolled her eyes. “You can’t fool me, dude. Everyone knows you put all those dogs around the server.”

Joe gasped in mock offense. “Cleo! How dare you suggest such a thing! As if I would abandon dogs just to heroically rescue them- you should know me better than that! As my best friend!” He pouted at her, and Cleo’s face went red with what she hoped Joe would mistake for frustration.

“Oh, of course,” she deadpanned. “Just like how you’d never dig flowers out of a dumpster?”

Joe snorted at the inside joke. “Flowers out of a dumpster?” he said, his voice perfectly modulated to a tone of shock. “Why, who ever would do such a thing?”

“It’s the peak of barbarism,” Cleo agreed, giggling to herself. Joe smiled, showing that gap between his front teeth, and Cleo’s ribs seemed to squeeze her lungs a little tighter. She swore to G-d if he didn’t stop being so cute right now she was going to kiss him right on his stupid face. Stupid crush. Stupid self. The one person she could stand being around for more than an hour or two and she couldn’t even do that, or her heart would burst.

“Cleo? Are you alright?” Cleo looked up and Joe, and realized she’d stopped walking.

“Oh, yeah. Just fine,” She assured him. Joe patted her shoulder, the ordinarily comforting touch coming with an edge of warmth. She didn’t know whether she loved it or hated it.

“Well, I need to grab some dye. For armor stands. Yeah,” Cleo said awkwardly. She reluctantly pulled away from Joe’s touch, her shoulder feeling weirdly cold without his hand there.

“Ah, alright! Didn’t mean to delay you!” Joe said, oblivious as ever. He gave her one last charming smile before bouncing off. Cleo was going to break his stupid, perfect legs.


	5. Grumbo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: mild injury, blood, weird description of healing magic

Grian spread his elytra, lighting a half dozen more rockets behind him. Maybe they weren’t strictly necessary, but the wind battering his face and stinging his eyes always felt nice. He didn’t get why other people didn’t like it.

The land below him was mostly covered in mist, only the tops of a few shops peeking through. He swooped lower over the shopping district. As much as he regretted Mumbo not winning, he had to to admit Scar had really done a good job with the place. The grass looked fantastic, and Grian’s eyes lingered on a giant decorative crystal. It was creative. That was Scar for ya.

The mooshroom island disappeared into sea. Grian looked up, and suddenly remembered that there was a build in front of him now. He slammed face-first into the box surrounding Grumbot.

“Ow!” Grian spun out, falling backwards onto the concrete mustache in front of the box. He wasn’t dead, but his elytra had ripped on the rough concrete edge. So had his palms and face, it seemed. He wiped the blood off on his pants and reached for his rockets, only to remember that his elytra was in no condition to fly. He’d have to swim, and the prospect of saltwater in his fresh cuts was… less than pleasant.

Thankfully, at that moment he spotted someone flying in the distance. “Hey!” he called out, waving wildly at them. Grian sighed with relief as the figure angled towards him and grew closer. Finally, Mumbo landed on the ex-mayoral campaign headquarters.

“Hello, Grian!” he called. “Are we planning to overthrow Scar, or something? Please say we’re not,” he added softly.

“No, although that’s a good idea,” Grian mused. “I crashed and busted my elytra. Do you have a spare, or some phantom membrane?”

“You’re bleeding,” Mumbo said, ignoring the question.

“Oh, yeah. That concrete is rougher than it looks!” Grian tried to joke.

“Does it hurt?” Mumbo asked. “I have a health potion, let me find it-“ before Grian could answer, Mumbo had started shuffling through his inventory.

“Good lord, Mumbo, what are you so worried about?” Grian joked. The lighthearted tone seemed a little forced, he had to admit. It was odd that Mumbo was suddenly fussing over him. Not bad, just… odd. He swallowed hard as Mumbo took his hand, holding out a splash potion of healing.

“Brace yourself,” he said gently, and poured the potion over the cut. The pain immediately vanished, and Grian watched intently as a thin layer of skin formed over the wound. It wouldn’t heal as naturally as if he had let it be, but the cut wouldn’t bother him anymore. “Is that better?” Mumbo asked.

“Um, yeah,” Grian said. His voice felt gummy, like it didn’t want to leave his throat. “But, um, I still have to get home. Do you have a spare elytra?”

“No, but I can get you to shore and you can repair yours.” Mumbo flared his elytra, gesturing for Grian to grab onto him. He obliged, climbing onto his friend’s back. “Um, its a short flight. I’m sorry if it’s uncomfortable,” Mumbo said, suddenly realizing the awkwardness of the situation.

“It’s fine,” Grian said. He was glad he was behind Mumbo- he was blushing up a storm. In a puff of rockets, Mumbo took off, flying clumsily to the shopping district with the added weight. He touched down and immediately shrugged Grian off his back.

“Bye man, see you later!” Mumbo said very quickly, taking off before Grian could even process his words. Of course, this wasn’t odd for him, but Grian sensed that he could feel the same odd buzz as he did.

Grian stood up and wandered around the shopping district in a daze. He should fix his elytra. He wandered past several useful shops without going in. It was a few minutes later when he realized Bdubs had been jogging up beside him.

“Dude, are you okay?” he asked. Grian cringed- the other hermit looked genuinely worried.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Grian said. Bdubs raised an eyebrow, and Grian added “I just crashed is all. I got distracted by that awesome crystal you and Scar put up. I’m not hurt, I swear.”

“Right,” Bdubs shrugged. He jogged away before flying off in the same direction as Mumbo. Shaking his head, Grian set off resolutely towards the elytra shop. This day was too weird. It was better for him to forget about this.


	6. Falsuma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: brief spooky bit at the end

Xisuma was going to do it. Today. No excuses. He’d been pining for False for so long, and it was time to face his feelings and get an answer. Did she like him back, or not?

_False, can you meet me in the shopping district?_ Xisuma messaged her. No taking it back now. He took a few deep breaths, but his heart didn’t stop pounding. His communicator binged, and he read False’s message.

_Sure, why?_

_I’ll tell you when we’re there,_ Xisuma typed. False sent him a thumbs up emoji, and Xisuma sighed. Time to do it. No take backs.

As he flew over to the district, Xisuma gave himself a mental pep talk. The worst thing that could happen is she turns you down, he reminded himself. Well, no, she could decide to kill him. But False didn’t seem the type to hunt him down if he ran, or kill him more than once. She was the honorable type, kind and merciful even to her opponents. His death wouldn’t be more painful than the rejection itself, at least.

He landed, his metal boots clunking against the road. False was there, by the town hall. She caught his eye, and they walked towards each other, meeting by the new crystal sculpture Scar had put in.

“So, what did you need to talk about?” False asked. She tilted her head to the side ever so slightly, her hair falling slightly over her blue eyes. Xisuma blushed, suddenly glad that his armor hid his physical appearance. He probably looked like an idiot right now.

“Um, I…” Xisuma gulped. “I wanted to- trade-“ No, not trade! He mentally hit himself. “I mean, block- talk-“

False’s face wrinkled with confusion, her lips parting slightly. “Um,” Xisuma said, losing what little of a train of thought he had. It was more like a streetcar of thought around False, to be honest. A mere minecart. But now, it was a smoldering wreck on the ground.

“Xisuma?” False asked. She grabbed his shoulder and jostled him a bit, and a shock of lightning went through Xisuma’s whole body.

“Yes! That’s my name!” he yelped. His face was so hot it was making it hard to breathe inside his helmet. She had touched him! Granted, she’d given him glancing brushes like that before, but for some reason this time it nearly sent him into cardiac arrest.

“You wanted to talk to me about something?” she prompted.

“I-“ There was no point. Xisuma was a full on, bona fide mess. He wouldn’t be able to get any words out, much less confess. “I gotta go!” Spinning around, Xisuma flew away, using enough rockets to give Grian a run for his money. He’d tell her tomorrow. No excuses.

* * *

From behind the crystal, Bdubs watched False sigh and walk away, her back hunched slightly. This was the second weird thing the crystal did this week- maybe not just second, he thought, as Ren and Doc passed by holding hands. He needed more proof, but if the crystal was as disruptive as he thought, they were all in grave danger.


	7. Stresskall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: suggestive bits

Bdubs paced the shopping district. He hadn’t seen any more of the odd goings on he’d expected from the crystals. Maybe he’d overreacted- after all, Xisuma wasn’t the smoothest talker in the best of situations, and who was to say Doc couldn’t date Ren? He sighed quietly to himself, relaxing shoulders he hadn’t even realized were tense. He wouldn’t have to tell Scar the bad news after all-

“Agh!” Bdubs suddenly tripped, collapsing into the newly planted grass. He rolled over, sitting up to see what- or rather who- he had tripped over.

“This isn’t what if looks like,” Iskall said softly from underneath Stress. She leaped off of him, brushing off her pants and trying to pretend she wasn’t blushing.

“Oh,” said Bdubs. “Because it looks like one of you tripped and fell on the other.”

“Well, then it’s exactly what it looks like,” Stress said sharply. She flew away with as much dignity as she could muster, leaving Iskall and Bdubs to awkwardly glance at each other.

“Bye,” the Swede said, before dashing off as well. Bdubs stood up, suddenly suspicious. He didn’t know why, but he had the inkling that Stress and Iskall’s fall wasn’t entirely… organic. Seeing Stress land next to her friend again, Bdubs sidled behind a shop to watch them.

Nothing odd happened for the next few minutes, and Bdubs started to wonder if he was actually just paranoid- until he saw them reach for the same item and brush hands. They jerked away, and Stress tried to laugh it off, but Bdubs heard Iskall apologize before flying away. Two meet-cutes in the span of fifteen minutes… it wasn’t damning evidence, but Bdubs was still suspicious. Taking out his pickaxe, he dug a two deep hole where no-one could ignore it next to the crystal, and then he waited.

Exactly as Bdubs predicted, nothing strange happened with the hole. Zedaph walked by and literally leaped out of the way. Joe stumbled in, but dug his way out before the horde of dogs he was leading could trap him in. Mumbo dug all the way around it, then kindly replaced the blocks when he realized it was literally just a boring hole. Nothing strange happened… until Iskall and Stress returned to the district.

Immediately, Iskall fell in. Bdubs could hear him take damage, too- that shouldn’t happen. Stress ran to help him, and somehow ended up falling in as well. Pickaxe in hand, Bdubs rushed over to dig them out, since they had apparently forgotten they could do that.

“Thank you guys,” Bdubs said as he freed the two. Only one other person had fallen in, and he had gotten out. But Stress and Iskall had managed to fall in at the same time, in a very compromising position.

“For what?” Iskall said, clambering out of the pit. He grabbed Stress’s hand, pulling her out as well.

“You’ve helped me figure something out.” Bdubs filled in his trap and shrugged on his elytra. Scar needed to know about this now.


	8. Scardubs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: none

_Scar? I need to talk to you,_ Bdubs texted. _Come quick, its important._

_Awesome! Meet in the shopping district?_ Scar responded.

Bdubs’ hands shook as he quickly replied. _No no no!_ he said. _Anywhere but that. My base?_

_Alright,_ Scar replied. _I need to tell you something important too._ Bdubs sighed, looking at the sky. The bright sun filled his body with a burning yet comfortable warmth. Hopefully, once Scar realized what the crystal was doing, he could reverse the damage. Maybe he’d already realized it! Bdubs steeled himself as Scar’s silhouette appeared in the sky.

“Hey man!” Scar said as he landed. “You needed to tell me something important?” He grinned at Bdubs, and the man supressed a blush.

“You go first,” Bdubs said. Hopefully, Scar’s issue wasn’t worse than his, but if it was they’d need to be on it immediately. Besides, he was the crystal expert.

“Oh, um, okay,” Scar said. “It’s kind of stupid- not really important at all, but-“ he met Bdubs’ eyes- “I think I might be a little in love with you?”

Bdubs paled. “It got you too.”

“What?”

“The crystal!” Bdubs yelled. “It’s been messing with the hermits, making them fall in love, even making them get into dangerous situations so they bond! We need to stop it, now!”

“What?” Scar said, his face a mask of confusion. “But I didn’t feel-“

“There’s no time to lose,” Bdubs said resolutely. “We need to destroy the crystal before someone gets hurt.”

“I- okay,” Scar said softly. Bdubs flew towards the shopping district, with Scar quickly behind him. As the pink crystal came into view, he swore he could see a pink haze surrounding it.

“We need to be quick,” Bdubs warned. “Before it tricks us into keeping it around.” Scar nodded, equipping a pickaxe. It wasn’t silk touch. Bdubs did the same, before swooping down to land on the crystal.

Their pickaxes made short work of the glass/ crystal. Pink particles blew away in the breeze, and Bdubs could feel the haze of happiness surrounding the crystal dissipate. In fact, he was feeling quite melancholy. It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. It didn’t matter that he and Scar were destroying their hard work, it didn’t matter that they were wasting glass. It didn’t matter that Scar didn’t really like him. As the mayoral team, it was their job to keep the hermits safe, and that was what they were doing.

“I think that’s it all,” Scar said dully. “I’ll check my shulkers and see if there are any unused crystals. Chuck them into lava and all.” He sighed and leaped from the pedestal onto the road.

“Hey, you okay?” Bdubs asked. “We could probably replace it with a non- magical crystal. It’d look just as good…”

“It’s not that. It’s not a big deal.” Scar sighed. “You can turn me down, I’m not gonna stop you. But I’m certain I didn’t love because of the crystal. It’s just lasted too long for that to make sense.”

Bdubs blinked. “What?”

“Yeah.” Scar laughed sadly. “Why’d you think I agreed to run for mayor?”

Bdubs’ face wrinkled in confusion. “Oh,” he said, coughing awkwardly. “I- you really run for mayor because you had a crush on me?”

“Well, it sounds kinda stupid when you say it like that.”

Bdubs giggled. “Naw, it’s kind of sweet.” He paused. “I should probably tell you I like you back now.”

“You do?” Scar yelped, grinning. “Do you want- um- to go out?”

“Of course,” Bdubs said. “We may want to explain the situation to the other hermits first, though.”

“Yes,” Scar agreed. “We need to prove the magic crystals DO work!”

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, this fic was written as a companion to the headcanons with the theme "love magic" on my blog, @hmshermitcraft. We're about to reach 200 followers, and there'll be an event when we do, so check it out!


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